July 2011 Archives

As his wife Debbie says, their 25th wedding anniversary was "absolutely perfect." That day, Debbie awoke to find a red rose petal path leading to their kitchen, where she was greeted by a touching tribute: a dozen red roses interspersed with 25 red, cutout hearts, each inscribed with things Jerry loved about her. Awww!

Sentiments like "You look good in your car" left Debbie speechless. (Coming up with 25 ways to say "I love you" can be tough, even when you're as creative as Jerry.) Beside the arrangement, Debbie found a box of sexy lingerie with a simple card: "Have your bag packed for overnight."

Catching Up With..

Today we're catching up with a true Renaissance man. Michael's an accomplished musician (clarinet), columnist, business entrepreneur and (you guessed it) blogger who lives in picturesque Lee, New Hampshire. This boomer's got plenty of stories to tell...like the night he was playing a gig with the legendary Robert Ealey and Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell dropped by...and hundreds more just as good!

DVDelicious

Miral is one of those films that would be easy to overlook. It didn't receive a major studio push like the Harry Potter franchise and the subject - while topical - isn't very well understood by Americans. Director Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) serves up a distinctly Palestinian view of the Arab/Israeli conflict and does it so well it is blindingly hard to ignore.

Don't Try This At Home

Thanks to a terrific IT Guru and some answered prayers from the Internet Gods, we successfuly relocated our servers. Whew! Stay tuned Boomers 'cause we've got a BIG announcement coming. Here's a tip, when Charlotte heard the news, all she could say was "Eeekkk!"

We're remodeling Blogger HQ to take in some attic space and create a new home office. We've hired our favorite contractors Doug and Christine to tackle this job and basically turn our lives upside down for the next two months. Join us as we find out if remodelers and home owners can peacefully coexist and/or discover if it's OK to hide a body in a construction dumpster.

Remodel Diary

Day 79

If you're reading this, go ahead and call off the search party. I survived.

Since we began our remodel project before the pyramids were built a few weeks ago, I've been dreading two things: 1) Cleaning out the office attic, and 2) Moving furniture and assorted stuff down to the ranch. Neither one of these sounded like much fun and both of them required serious sweat and heavy lifting. Not my thing, y'all.

Charlotte's experience with the DOOR OF DEATH convinced me that you can get HURT moving stuff, so I've been on my guard. That's why I asked our intern if she knew any strong-backed college students who wanted to make a few $$ cleaning out the office attic.

She came through with a couple of Texas A&M refugees looking to make a quick buck. Before I could say, "Where'd I put my Shiner?" they were hauling crap out of the attic like they were auditioning for Cirque du Soleil. Yeah, it was little hot...kinda like this...

Cleaning out the attic was relatively easy (for me). No college kids were harmed and I even found my Shiner. Crisis. Averted.

On to DREADED THING #2: Move to the Ranch.

We've got a small place just outside of Cranfills Gap (for you non-Texans, you may remember this town from its 15-minutes of fame in this commercial for Las Vegas).

It almost made me tear up, seeing how it was like the final scene in Blazing Saddles.

Since it's fine and thin with no natural body, my morning styling routine is quite a workout. I start with several body-building sprays then use a blow dryer, flat iron and rollers. Whew!All that and some days it still falls flat.

At night, in addition to the mandatory hair brushing, I have my eyelashes to worry about. After losing them to chemotherapy about a year and a half ago (talk about depressing), I don't take any chances. I'm ultra careful when removing eye makeup.I also do everything possible to keep my lashes strong, healthy and encourage new growth.

We're giving away two remarkable, new hair boosters, including:

The Ferrum Professional Styler, a unique flat iron that builds body while taming frizzies

Dust Jacket

Bob Dylan: Like a Complete Unknown, might best be summarized with a line from John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." In a tightly woven 192 pages, author David Yaffe does a masterful job of capturing the enigmatic septuagenarian (he turned 70 in May) who wrote the soundtrack for a generation.

In the Mirror

Instead of a nice, cooling breeze, we've had gusts so strong that Bob's been back-and-forth to Lowes buying buckets of bungee cords for the backyard. (Yes, he is in heaven.) You won't see that look in Southern Living but tying things down has been the ONLY way to prevent breaking, blowing and unplanned trips to our neighbors' yards.

Catching Up With..

Linda is an Administrative Assistant for Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD in Bedford, Texas. She started working full time after her last "baby" began first grade because she says she was feeling "bored". . . now 18 years later, she's still there!

DVDelicious

Kill the Irishman is a mystery. No, the story's not a whodunit, it's pretty straightforward. The real question is why such a great film was released and then disappeared into relative obscurity. It's a taught crime drama with an "A" list cast - plenty of action -- and more explosions than a July 4th festival.

Guest Room

Charlotte and I like to travel and we often get tips from our blogger friends, business associates and neighbors. It's good to have the "inside" track on places our friends looooove, or the joints locals only share with people they like. It's that kind of info that's led us to such wonderful places as diverse as Tin Top Restaurant and Oyster Bar in Bon Secour, AL and La Masseria Ristorante in Manhattan. It's a lot of fun exploring. It's even MORE fun when exploring takes you somewhere great.

Don't Try This At Home

We're remodeling Blogger HQ to take in some attic space and create a new home office. We've hired our favorite contractors Doug and Christine to tackle this job and basically turn our lives upside down for the next two months. Join us as we find out if remodelers and home owners can peacefully coexist and/or discover if it's OK to hide a body in a construction dumpster.

Remodel Diary

Day 48

Since we began this remodeling project before the ice caps melted we've had a few "temporary" issues to deal with.

There was the "temporary" 8'x10' hole in the roof of our garage so the lumber packagecould be hauled up into the attic (yes internets, my package was so big we had to cut a hole in the ceiling to get it in...BaDaBoom!...Thank You, I'm here all week!).

Then, of course, they installed the "temporary" DEATH DOOR.

Never heard of the Death Door? I think it's a part of the Collywood City Code. You can't get a construction permit without having one on your plans. They fine you for that s***.

The Death Door isn't to be confused with the door to HELL. That's over at the Tarrant County DMV. I'm talking about the "temporary" 6'x8' door made out of ¼" plywood and reinforced two-by-fours that sealed up the opening to our new room.

She whispered the words I can't resist, "Take out your power screwdriver and..."

In my 40s, my skin rebelled. My always-on-the-oily-side complexion did an about-face and seemed to dry out overnight. I never wanted all that shine but YIKES! this was worse.

I had to do something. I wasn't going to start shriveling up like one of those California raisins, without a fight. So I began stockpiling lotions, creams, moisturizers ... an arsenal to hydrate my thirsty skin and (fingers crossed!) keep it from showing my age.

We're giving away three mighty moisture-makers to help take years off your look:

Guest Room

By Laura Cipullo and Lisa Mikus, authors of Everyday Diabetes Meals

Image credit: Colin Erricson

Prepare your own Mexican quick fix with this Chipotle-inspired bowl. Carbs are moderated by filling the bowl with beans, extra veggies and chicken. No need for rice, since the beans count as carbs.

Tips:

If you love tomatoes, increase the quantity to 1/2 cup, but note that the carbohydrates will also increase.

If preparing this recipe for one person, cut all of the ingredients in half. Or simply prepare the full recipe up to the end of step 2 and store leftover chicken and vegetable-bean mixture in separate airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Reheat in the microwave on High for 1 to 2 minutes, or until heated through, and continue with step 3.

Health Bite: The iron, calcium, magnesium, manganese, copper and zinc in black beans help to keep bones strong and healthy.

Playing Favorites

It's been almost 18 years since Alison Krauss gave us a solo album, but the wait is over with Windy City. The release (her fifth solo studio album) features ten covers of classic songs (and some bonus tracks) she picked with producer Buddy Cannon.